Conflict Management in the Church

In his essay “The Sociology of Religion” O’Dea suggests that the nonnormative study of religion might serve several purposes. One of these he calls an “applied science” which may “aid religious institutions to understand more thoroughly the milieu in which they must deliver their message and the consequent problems to be faced” (O’Dea, 1970:233). In recent years a body of applied theory and literature has emerged, which is aimed in this direction…The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview and analysis of this body of literature.

In carrying out this task, I was particularly interested in determining what distinguishes this field and thus paid close attention to several key characteristics which this paper will develop. First, I will provide a brief review of the works being analyzed in this paper. Then I will identify the sources these authors draw upon in applying conflict management to the religious setting, and will discuss the different methodological approaches and objectives present in them…I will also identify the principle types of conflict management processes, skills and techniques they suggest. Finally, I will discuss the levels of application they make within the religious setting…